Categories

SOCIAL MEDIA

There is something new being added to the mix! My Tumblr blog which before now has been a giant mixing pot of things I decide to reblog, will be another avenue for my readers to connect with me and the things I post about! From now on my personal photographs will be posted on Tumblr, some of which can be found here and some of which are totally new.You can just click on "My Pictures" to see all the photos I have posted so far, and stay tuned for more to come. I also will be reblogging some other fantastic photographers' works. xoxo

Our final days in Paris were memorably spent, as were the beginning and the middle of our days in Paris. My grandparents headed back to the States as Mom and I made our way to Versailles, France. The Versailles Chateau is, obviously, the center attraction in Versailles, although the town was so quaint and adorable and picturesque full of very nice people.

That's another part of the Parisian experience that was "missing". There is a giant stigma stating that Parisian men and women are stuck up or snobbish or rude. We did not find that to be true at all! As long as you respect them and treat them the way a person should be treated, they'll treat you the very same. They're very helpful and nice and don't deserve that stereotypical attitude.

This statue, whose metal bears a strong resemblance to La Liberté Éclairant le Monde, is a sculpture of Louis XIV aka "Louis the Great" who ruled as King of France for 72 years and 110 days, the longest reign in European history

Versailles, as with everything else in France it seems, is undergoing some work to give the aging Chateau a facelift. And like all French women, she is truly aging with a fine grace.

Being the architecture junkie that I am, the beautiful curves, points, and shadows of the Chateau's frame delighted me. The classical-style architecture photographs just gorgeously. (You can find the Palace of Versailles' website here)

The next day we visited Le Sacre Coeur, truly an eye-opening, heart-awakening journey for me. In the least cheesy way possible, the journey to this sacred place was very special to me. I can't totally explain it but I left the church a different person than when I entered.

You ride a little tram to reach the top of the very steep hill that has Le Sacre Coeur.

The views of Paris from Le Sacre Coeur are breathtakingly beautiful

The wind messed with our Top Model abilities. The wind, and our lack of Top Model abilities.

Ma famille est belle, non?

Parisians and tourists mix on the steps leading to Le Sacre Coeur, as well as the grassy hills on the sides of the giant church. There was an attractive group of adolescents sitting on the grassy knoll, one of whom had a guitar. It was a warm, windy day and the blue of the sky went on forever.

The architecture was beyond gorgeous, unfortunately we couldn't take photos inside the chapel

When we came out of the church, there was a performer climbing and dancing on a very high street lamp overlooking the giant hill, a very Parisian performance. It was nearly Cirque du Soleil worthy and I could finally breathe again when he safely climbed down. Seriously, it was beautiful art and nerve wracking.

The green man and his horse seemed quite noble to me, riding out of the gothic architecture of the cathedral to protect it from evil. (#dramatics)

A missing kitty sign

After touring the cathedral, we walked around the gorgeous neighborhood surrounding the church. The high streets with a new surprise around each corner reminded me of San Francisco.

The architecture of Le Sacre Coeur is gorgeous from every angle

We stumbled across a picturesque little vineyard sloping down the hill, surrounded by a neighborhood. I found it the cutest thing, you could wake up and look out your window to see this gorgeous vineyard growing on an angle.

Each of the houses was fenced in by a big gate, but that didn't stop the gorgeous purple flowers clinging to this Town and Country-worthy home from appealing to my colorful side

The streets stretched on forever, houses sticking out of the sloping cobblestone like teeth (my artsy closed eyes weren't on purpose)

The vineyard had a grown gazebo perfect for a storybook marriage

A cute accordion player and singer that I refused to take a picture with out of self embarrassment, however my mother, bless her, is less conscious of herself

We headed to Versailles very early the next day, but not before snapping a few quick pictures of la Tour Eiffel painted in the pink, early morning sunlight.

Last weekend was full of fun! (#MomLingo) After our last Final, our English exam, a group of friends and I went to stay at Kim's house for a sleepover. This was our last outing before Shiv, Oisin, Kim and possibly others move away from our school.

Aliah and me

We started off the afternoon by belting out Frozen songs in the car on our way to Kim's house, half of us sitting on someone's lap, and as soon as we got to her house we jumped in the pool. It was a gorgeously sunny afternoon (with a few clouds and rain, that's Manila weather for you) and we had a lot of fun swimming around each other, and usually, on top of one another.

Dem swimmer shoulders tho

All together there were 8 of us: myself, Aliah, Kim, Oisin, Shiv, Shay, John, Celene, and Ropil.

Half the time we were wearing various articles of clothing just to traipse around the house and return to the pool

Our diet was fabulous, we ordered about 17 things of fries (or some other absurd number) and we all just grazed

We played "ping pong" (albeit it not very well) inside Kim's house--you were at danger of being hit by that little plastic orange ball anywhere within two miles of the house

After we had finished swimming, we all showered ("rotate!"; "someone pass the shampoo!"; "someone is stepping on my FOOT!") and piled back into Kim's car.

All us girls coordinated our outfits (at first without realizing, and then working for it): we call ourselves the Double-Layered-Hat-Crew

We went bowling, Ropil's girlfriend and her twin sister joined us as well. Kim and I held the lane as John and Oisin went to buy socks while Aliah and Ropil and Shiv and Oisin went to pick up Ropil's girlfriend.

I feel bad for the people bowling in the lanes next to us, we were loud and most of us ended collapsed on the floor after throwing the ball. (I don't know either) John, Celene, and I were the masters of bowling and eventually it narrowed down to a competition between the sexes. The result can't be counted because the men gave up halfway through (naturally).

After bowling we went to the food court and enjoyed a range of delectable cuisines (Kim, Celene, and I dined on Dairy Queen). Later we returned to Kim's place for a rousing game of Just Dance and Truth or Dare (with some very sexual dares, might I add--it was quite funny actually). We also had a midnight feast on chocolate muffins (the huge ones from Costco), cookies, Snickers (involved in one of my Dares actually), soda, cheesy popcorn etc.

We ended the night with comedy/horror movies that we all fell asleep watching. We didn't wake up until about 9:45, and I was supposed to leave at 9. Oops. I rushed my goodbyes and made it home by 10:30.

Thankfully, my mother was also late so we ended up leaving for the beach a little later. Eh, it was fine.